Barca flirt with disgrace as they hardly survive the cup battle with the third-tier strugglers

If there's anything close to fairytales in European football, then it's definitely the Spanish Cup, or Copa del Rey, if you prefer the original name.

Here at Mozzart Sport Kenya you had a chance to read interesting articles regarding those once-in-a-lifetime match-ups between the giants like Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and those minnows you've never heard of.

Gospel of Almazan

When Real Madrid comes to town, you earn your yearly income in 90 minutes

The magic that the cup draw brings every year is something worth nurturing and last night's Barcelona tie with the unknown Intercity FC only proves how exquisite and charming this competition truly is.

Albeit everyone expected a razzle-dazzle game that would eventually finish with a big margin, of course, in Barca's favour, it turned out to be almost entirely the opposite.

Not only the third-division strugglers didn't surrender to the mighty opponent, not even after conceding early on, but they demonstrated a mouth-watering resistance. In the end, we saw a seven-goal thriller altogether, with the fixture going to extra time after Intercity managed to equalize three times! The hero of the night was Oriol Soldevila, who scored a hat-trick for the tiny Alicante-based team, probably ensuring himself a lucrative move in the current transfer window.

On the other end, young Pablo Torre proved he would be one of the Blaugrana's new top prospects and already established Ansu Fati made sure things didn't end in disgrace, netting in the extra time for the win.

What bothers Xavi Hernandez is the fact they're facing Atletico Madrid in the next La Liga tie for the weekend, and his squad is disturbingly vulnerable, especially the back line. Conceding free against almost-amateurs is a massive warning sign ahead of the clash with Cholo Simeone's slot.